Michael Beale sacked by Rangers

Right, we can get more on Michael Beale's sacking at Rangers after just 10 months in charge. Our reporter Mark Benstead is at Ibrox for us this morning. Morning, Mark. Was this what you expected Rangers to do after Saturday's result? Morning, Alex. Yeah, I think it was. It was more a case of when rather than if Michael Beale would go, ever since Rangers lost the first Old Firm game of the season here just before the last international break when they were booed off following that defeat to Celtic. You knew at that point that some of the supporters had lost faith already in Michael Beale and you can't argue with the fact the pressure had been growing ever since then. They had got a couple of results to sort of stave off the pressure to a point but it never quite disappeared. They were then booed off again despite beating Motherwell here by a single goal a couple of weeks ago and then once they were defeated by Aberdeen on Saturday and more of the crowd turned, you just knew that that would be the case, that what has happened would happen. Michael Beale will point to the fact that he's been deprived of some key players in recent weeks. Daniil injured, Todd Countwell injured, Nicol Raskin injured and he'll point to the fact there's been a big overturn of players in the summer. Nine new faces brought in, the forward line ripped up and they would take time to settle but even he admitted in recent weeks they'd had enough time. They needed to start delivering and a lot of those players hadn't done that and it was always going to be difficult for him to claw things back with the gap that had developed at the top of the table. And the big thing for Michael Beale was that he couldn't shake off the tag that he hadn't delivered in the big games or enough of the big games. You look back to last season, they lost the League Cup final to Celtic in February, then lost a league game in April that saw Celtic go 12 points clear at the top of the table. Before then losing to Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final as well. Skip forward to this season, they lost in the Champions League playoffs to PSV, lost in the second leg heavily over in Holland as well before that Old Firm defeat. And yeah, he couldn't shake that tag off and enough of the big games he did not deliver. I feel for Michael Beale, he was always good to deal with. I know what it meant to him to manage this football team. I know how much he and his family had embraced Glasgow. In fact, he said to me a couple of weeks ago this was going to be their home regardless of what happened at the football club. But ultimately, results have piled the pressure on. He's lost his position and he's no longer the manager of this football club. Yeah, just looking at the odds, Kevin Muscat the early favourite, which is a bit of a surprise. But seven games into the season, Rangers, they're already seven points off Celtic. Will any potential replacements be put off by that pressure? Yeah, Tom, they'll have to accept that pressure. It's what comes with the turf here. It would probably put some managers off because they'll have to come in. If they've got a philosophy, a style they want to implement here, they'll have to do so while picking up results as well. They won't get a settling in period. And the supporters will let them know if they aren't happy with what they're seeing as well. There's a certain expectation with the way the team goes and plays their football as well. Michael Beale said he wanted to play on the front foot, didn't quite deliver at times, especially in recent games. And the supporters did make him aware of the fact they weren't happy with the style. So whoever comes in will inherit that pressure, that expectation. But if you want to spin things around and be positive, well, there are things to draw on. They'll look at it and say, well, the team are in a group in the Europa League they can get out of. They play Ares Limassol, the Cypriot side, in midweek this week. They've already won their first game against Betis, Sparta Praga, the other side in this section. Rangers have a squad that can get out of that group. And we saw under Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, when he took over from Steven Gerrard, you can build momentum in Europe. He took them all the way to a final. There's no reason a manager couldn't come in and take this team forward in Europe. And you look at the league situation as well. Yes, it is a seven-point gap, but there should be three Old Firm games to play between now and the end of the season. So it could be overturned. And in the short term, Rangers have a Scottish League Cup semi-final ahead of them on November 5th against Hearts. So they're only one more win away from a domestic final. So, yes, it looks on paper to be a difficult challenge, but there are real positives for any new manager coming in as well. Mark, thank you.